My Car Ride
by MildlyInsane
Summary: JD needs a ride home from work. Unfortunately, the only person available to give him a ride is the janitor. With rain pouring down heavily and the janitor driving like a nut, will they make it home alive? Read to find out. And Review, please.


**_I wrote this little one-chapter adventure because I figured a few of you might appreciate it, as there aren't very many JD/Janitor FRIENDSHIP stories out there... It seems like about half of the Scrubs stories on here are slash stories... and though I'm fine with that, it's just not something I'm good with writing... I don't like putting characters in relationships like that... even if they actually are in the show... So here's a nice "my kind of writing where something bad happens to JD" kind of story, with no slash, but lots of moments where Dr. Cox and the janitor show that they really do care about JD. :)_**

**_And don't worry... I'm still going to finish my other story... I just thought of this idea while I was in the shower... (yes... I think of fanfictionn while I'm showering) and I just had to type it up and post it. :) the last chapter of my other story should be up sometime tomorrow. :) _**

**_xxxxxx_**

Turk had driven JD to work. Unfortunately, both Turk and JD had forgotten this, and therefore, when Turk got off work earlier than JD, he went ahead and drove home, completely forgetting that JD had no ride. JD had also forgotten that Turk had driven him to work, as it was so early in the morning when they had arrived, that neither of them could safely say that they were fully awake.

At any rate, JD's shift was now over, but he had no way of leaving the hospital, unless someone who happened to also be off work would give him a ride. That, or he could call a taxi cab, which he did not prefer, as the drivers always seemed to make him feel uneasy.

Of course, JD used this unfortunate opportunity in hopes that he could catch a ride with his mentor. He tried to be less annoying than usual to the older man... though he didn't ever consider himself annoying anyway, but rather knew that Cox did consider him so.

"Hey, Dr. Cox!" JD yelled at his mentor to catch his attention. He walked toward the older doctor quickly, at almost a running pace, "hi... I was wondering, if you have time... if you could give me a ride home..." JD requested. Noticing that Dr. Cox was simply staring at him as though he required more information, JD began to further explain, "you see, Turk gave me a ride this morning, but I guess we both forgot that I didn't have a ride home, because he got off work earlier than I did-"

"Uh-huh," Dr. Cox interrupted him, "Uh, Dana, as much as I would _love_ to stop everything I'm doing right now, to give you a ride back to your _oh so charming castle_, I'm afraid I can't right now, because, you see, Monica, that if I simply leave all of my patients here to die... they might, in fact, _DIE_. So might I suggest that the next time you need someone to drive you to work, you get someone with an attention span longer than three seconds? That way maybe they'll remember to drive you home too."

JD frowned, "You could have just said-"

Dr. Cox whistled loudly, interrupting JD, "If you wait about... hmmm... I don't know... six more hours, maybe I can give you a ride then. How does that sound?"

JD sighed and turned away, leaving Dr. Cox smiling at his own rant.

JD walked out into the parking lot. Though it was raining, he figured that going outside would be the best way to find someone to take him home. Surely someone else was leaving work right about now, and could give him a ride. The parking lot was pretty quiet, much to his disappointment. He scanned the lot. There was someone walking around in the farthest corner. JD squinted to see whomever it was, but was again disappointed when he saw that the man in the parking lot was the janitor.

He sighed. Apparently the janitor had seen him, as he was now walking up toward the doctor. JD winced. What was he going to do?

"Hey, Scooter," the janitor greeted him, "what are you doing standing out in the rain?"

JD hesitated. He could tell the janitor that he needed a ride, and maybe he would offer to drive him home... or maybe he would do something mean since he knew JD had no way of getting home... Or he could make up some sort of lie as to why he was out standing in the rain.

The janitor noticed JD's hesitance, "Are you paying attention, Scooter? What, do you think that since I'm a janitor, I'm not worth listening to? What, whenever _I _say something, it's automatically unimportant, because _what could a janitor have to say that could possibly matter?_ Right?"

JD shook his head, "No," he stammered, "I just... I... well, I needed a ride home, and I wasn't sure if I should ask you or not..." he finally managed to say, as he shivered from a mixture of nervousness and being cold from the rain.

"Wasn't sure if you should ask me?" the janitor questioned, smiling in such a friendly manner that it made JD shiver even more, "Well, why not? Of course I'll give you a ride, Scooter!"

JD smiled nervously. He wasn't sure how much he wanted to accept a ride from the janitor... but right now it seemed like his only option.

"Well, come on then," the janitor said, walking toward his van, "you weren't sure if you should ask me..." he chuckled, "like I would leave you standing out in the rain..."

JD climbed into the passenger side of the janitor's van, cringing at his own possibly fatal mistake. _What if the janitor took this opportunity to kill him? He very well could..._

"You better buckle up," the janitor instructed as he fastened his own seat belt, "I'm not really the best driver, you know."

JD gulped and quickly fastened his seat belt as well, "do you know where I live?" he asked.

"Of course I do," the janitor said, "I think you might have even been there a couple of the times when I dropped by. You might have been asleep though... Anyway, I know where you live."

The janitor was driving rather quickly, and by this point the rain was beating down so strong that it was difficult to see anything more than a few feet in front of the van.

"Maybe you should pull over for a minute," JD suggested, "how can you even see the road?"

"I can't really," the janitor said, "I don't think anyone else is stupid enough to try to drive in this though, so we shouldn't have to worry about hitting anyone..."

JD's eyes widened considerably, "What if you run off the road?!"

The janitor looked over at JD who was trying to see out the windshield of the van, "you're probably right, Scooter. I guess I should probably pull-" he was cut off when the van struck something and started to spin off of the road.

The janitor held on to the steering wheel, and slammed on the brakes, trying to straighten the van back onto the road as it continued to spin. Meanwhile, JD closed his eyes and tried to find something to hold on to to keep himself from dying, as the car rolled a few times and came to a loud crashing halt.

Both men were still and silent for a moment. The janitor was the first to snap out of his state of near shock. He looked over at JD, who had a cut above his right eye, and had his eyes closed very tightly, "hey Scooter, are you okay?"

JD shivered and opened his eyes. Rather than speaking, he simply nodded, indicating that he felt that he was relatively alright. Then he figured that he should make sure the janitor was alright as well, "are you okay?" he asked.

The janitor nodded, "yeah."

The van was laying partially on it's side, enough to make it seem a bit crooked, but not enough to where the janitor would have fallen onto JD, whose side was partially smashed into the side of a ditch.

"Well," the janitor said, "I guess we should get out of here. Judging by how smashed up the side of the van seems to be, I think the gas is probably leaking, and although it's raining still, it's eased up a little, and it could still catch fire."

Almost as if on cue, the vehicle started smoking. JD, beginning to panic, pulled at his seat belt, but it had somehow gotten jammed, and due to the accident had snagged itself automatically in place as a safety mechanism for passengers of the vehicle.

The janitor easily undid his own seat belt, and although he had no intention of leaving JD there, JD seemed to think he just might have planned on doing so, as the young doctor reached out franticly and grabbed the janitor's arm, "please don't leave me here," he pleaded.

The janitor shook his head, "of course I won't," he said, moving closer to JD and trying to unjam the seatbelt which trapped him in the car which was filling with more and more smoke by the second.

JD started to cough. The janitor regularly smoked cigarettes, so the smoke didn't really bother him as much, but JD never smoked, and it was becoming increasingly harder for him to breathe.

The janitor and JD both continued to tug at the seat belt, but it did not show any signs of unjamming to release JD, who was looking more and more like he was going to pass out, coughing quite a lot by this point. The janitor had a pocket knife in his glove box. He let go of JD's seat belt and reached away from him, toward the glove box, as JD gripped the sleeve of the janitor's shirt, silently pleading him to not leave him there.

As JD continued to cough and his breathing became more and more painful and difficult, the janitor found the pocket knife he had been searching for. He opened the knife and brought it close to JD's chest, where the seat belt was, as JD tensed slightly and continued coughing, and gripped the janitor's shirt sleeve tighter.

With one swift cut, the seat belt was split, and JD was no longer trapped. However, his coughing was becoming more of an extremely laboured breathing, and he seemed to be nearly unconscious. The janitor dragged him out of the van and carried him out of the ditch and onto the side of the road.

Though the janitor didn't know much about health and what to do with someone who had breathed in too much smoke, he did know how to check for a pulse, and all of the basic things most people would know. He put his fingers on JD's throat and felt that he did indeed have a pulse. Now he needed to dial for a paramedic, assuming there were no other cars on the road who had done so already. He didn't see anyone... nor did he have a cell phone. He felt around in JD's pockets and found that the doctor did in fact have a cell phone on him.

He dialed for an ambulance, which took only a few minutes to arrive. The janitor watched as the paramedics lifted JD onto a gurney and immediately fastened an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.

"Sir?" one of the paramedics asked the janitor, "are you injured? Did you breathe in smoke as well?"

"No," the janitor told him, "I'm fine. I do need a ride to the hospital though. My friend and I work there, and since my van is smashed in the ditch I've got no way to get back."

The paramedic nodded, "well, you can ride in the back of the ambulance with your friend," he offered.

The janitor rode in the back of the ambulance with JD and a few paramedics, "is he going to be alright?" the janitor, who couldn't help but feel guilty asked one of the paramedics.

"He should most likely be fine," the paramedic explained, "he breathed in a lot of smoke, and he's having a little bit of trouble breathing, but he should get better relatively quickly. He might have a bit of trouble for a few days, and probably a sore throat. Besides that, he's got a sprained wrist and just a few minor cuts and bruises."

The janitor nodded, and for the rest of the short ride back to Sacred Heart, each of the men in the back of the ambulance was quite silent.

When Dr. Cox heard about the car accident, he, like the janitor, felt relatively guilty. He checked up on JD constantly throughout the day, as he felt it was slightly his own fault since he had refused to drive JD home.

JD had regained consciousness once he was at the hospital, while both the janitor _and _Dr. Cox happened to be standing in his room.

"Hi," his voice stressfully greeted them.

Dr. Cox immediately walked over to JD, "Hey there Newbie," the older doctor greeted him, "how are you feeling?"

"Kind of like someone is cooking on a grill in my esophagus," JD said quietly.

Dr. Cox forced a slight smile. He hesitated, looked over at the janitor, and then leaned closer to JD. As quietly as he could manage, he whispered to JD, "I'm sorry I was a jerk."

JD nodded, "it's okay."

Dr. Cox smiled again, for real this time, "Well, I'll be by to check on you again later, kay?"

JD nodded as Dr. Cox walked out of the room.

The janitor stayed standing by the doorway, looking like he wanted to say something, but stayed silent. He was about ready to turn and leave when JD stopped him.

"Wait," he said, his voice quiet due to the excess amount of smoke his throat had been forced to endure.

"Yeah?" the janitor responded.

"Thank you for not leaving me there to choke and die," JD said, nervousness evident in his voice.

The janitor smiled, "you're welcome," he said, feeling almost hurt still, thinking that JD had actually thought that he would even have considered leaving him there, "Hey, don't put your seat belt on so tight next time, okay?" he joked.

"Okay," JD agreed.

"And Scooter?" the janitor said.

"Yeah?" JD responded.

"I didn't ever have the intention of leaving you in the van. You know that, right?" he asked.

JD wasn't really sure if he had thought the janitor capable of leaving him there, but he could tell that the older man was upset that JD had thought he might, "I knew you couldn't do something like that," JD lied a lie that he now figured could likely be true, "I guess I was just panicking."

"Okay," the janitor said, "I'll see you later then."

JD nodded. It seemed that everyone was always picking on him, but when it really mattered they would always give him a break. He figured that was probably the best way for things to be, rather than how some people's friends were the opposite, there in the good times, and gone in the bad. Friends like Dr. Cox and the janitor, however scary and mean they could be, were definitely friends he felt lucky to have.

**_xxxxxx_**

**_Sorry if anyone was slightly out of character... And I'm sorry that I suck at endings so much... and I'm sorry that this probably should have been a two chapter story only I got too excited and typed it all up as one chapter... I hope you liked it. :) I think I did an okay job anyway... Please leave me some tastey little reviews. :) I love them. _**


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